With the Baseball Writers Association of America announcing their Rookie of the Year winners last night, we at Diamond Digest wanted to reveal our own ballots for who we believe should be taking home some hardware in the coming days!
Below you will find the result of our team’s voting for each award using the same point system as the BBWAA. You will also find some quotes from those who voted below each section in order to get an understanding from our writers as to why they voted as they did.
Without further ado, let’s get into the awards!
American League Rookie of the Year
Note: Last night, BBWAA announced Kyle Lewis as their unanimous AL Rookie of the Year
“The White Sox fan in me really wants to pick Robert as the winner, but that would be doing Kyle Lewis an injustice. If not for Robert’s slump in September, I definitely think this is his award; the defense just doesn’t quite make up for it.”
– Thatcher Zalewski
“Robert’s cold end to the season costs him this one. I’ll give it to Lewis because I’d rather have a 127 wRC+ hitter in center field than a guy with a 3.48 ERA and an xFIP of 4.86. If Lewis strikeout numbers weren’t as bad, I think it would be a really easy choice.”
– Grant Carver
“James Karinchak and Sean Murphy are both more deserving than Robert and Javier.”
– Sean Huff
So, as you can see, our writers believe the BBWAA got this one right!
National League Rookie of the Year
Note: Last night, BBWAA announced Devin Williams as their NL Rookie of the Year
“Devin Williams was simply unhittable in 2020, and as relief pitcher was right up there in WAR with the other two.”
– Peter Khayat
“I have Bohm over Cronenworth because of his better offensive performance, and I don’t value relievers enough to give the award to Williams.”
– Quinn Sweetzir
“The real battle here was for second place. Williams was ridiculously good in 27 innings this year, which is quite a lot for a reliever in a 60-game season.”
– Holden Phillips
So, currently, we are 2-for-2 in agreement with BBWAA!
American League Manager of the Year
“Cash figured it out and got his guys the AL East title. While Montoyo and Renteria also had good managerial years, #1 in the AL is something only Cash can claim.”
– Diego Franco-Carreno
“[I voted for Renteria] because I want to laugh at the Sox for firing a MOTY winner.”
– Callie Tsai
“Bullpen management.”
– Michael Shopoff (voted for Kevin Cash)
AL Manager of the Year will be announced this evening!
National League Manager of the Year
“This one is emotional: Mattingly did not handle the COVID issues in Miami well at the beginning of the season, and Tingler’s response to the Tatis 3-0 grand slam was disappointing. Ross did well in his first year, and made things work despite not getting a lot from his offense.”
– Dylan Burris
“Flip a coin. No strong feelings between Ross and Tingler. Want to note that Mattingly should not even be in the discussion due to being the presiding manager of a major COVID outbreak. Even if his role was small in that disaster, it is disqualifying.”
– Tyler Prime
“The Marlins’ success was the least expected, so facilitating that is impressive.”
– Aidan Bimberg
Find out the winners for both Manager of the Year awards tonight, November 10!
American League Cy Young Award
“Sure, triple crowns are three meaningless categories. Still very, extremely difficult to get all three.”
– Keegan Geisler
“Shane Bieber is clearly #1, CyBundy was robbed by Ryu.”
– Kristian Lloyd
“Bieber was pitching historically well practically all season. This is a no-brainer.”
– Tyler Slome
Bieber is our first (and only) unanimous award winner here at DD. Will the BBWAA feel the same? Find out on November 11th!
National League Cy Young Award
“Overcoming incumbent winner Jacob deGrom was no easy feat, but Bauer was the best pitcher in the NL from start to end. His quirky style is finally starting to reap rewards.”
– Brendan Bell
“This is a super close race. Darvish should get some 1st place votes and I think DeGrom passes Bauer if this is 162… but it wasn’t. Gotta go Bauer.”
– Scott Bentley
“The three were somewhat similar but DeGrom gets the edge for facing better offense.”
– Quinn Mortimore
Find out on Thursday if our writers and the BBWAA agree on the Cy Young Award winners!
American League Most Valuable Player
“Abreu led the league in most offensive categories and was the main cog in the White Sox’s successes this season.”
– Britt Telshaw
“The key cog in the Yankees order with all the injuries they had. Yankees desperately need him back in 2021.”
– Connor O’Brien
“I’m taking DJ out because he didn’t play a full season — with only 60 games possible, he missed a full sixth of those. Ramirez was so good: 12.2% BB rate, .415 wOBA, nearly as much power as Abreu but with better plate discipline.”
– Dylan Burris
The AL MVP will be announced on November 12 in what promises to be a tight race!
National League Most Valuable Player
“Write-in: Juan Soto, yes, he missed a few games, but he also had a 200 wRC+, which is unheard of. The only other player with a wRC+ of 200+ in a qualified season since 2000 is Barry Bonds. In an already shortened season, at some point, sample size doesn’t matter. It’s going to be small for all players, whether they played every game or missed a week because the league held him out for a false test. Led NL in BB%, ISO, AVG, OBP, SLG, wOBA. His defense was below average, but not bad enough to take away from his historic offense.”
– A Very Passionate Matthew Penn
“Freddie finally had that type of year where you might start thinking he could be a hall of famer.”
– Isaac DeTemple
“Fernando Tatis Jr. got all the hype but Freddie Freeman was the best player on arguably the league’s best offense.”
– Ethan Fisher
Here is the schedule this week for awards announcements:
November 9th: Rookie of the Year (Lewis and Williams)
November 10th: Manager of the Year
November 11th: Cy Young Award
November 12th: Most Valuable Player
Make sure to tune in to our Twitter for more thoughts on these award winners, and let us know if you think we got our voting right!
